The present invention relates to an air conditioning system, and more particularly, to a casing unit of an air conditioning system having a heat exchanger installed inside thereof and paths for controlling the flow of the air, and an air conditioning system employing the casing unit.
In a typical air conditioning system for an automobile, air is blown by a blower unit toward an evaporator through which coolant flows or a heater core through which cooling water of an engine of an automobile flows so that heat exchange with the air occurs to enable cooling or heating of the inside of an automobile. The heat-exchanged air is supplied into the inside of the automobile through ducts, thereby cooling or heating the inside of the automobile.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a case of a conventional air conditioning system.
Referring to the drawing, air supplied from a blower unit 1 selectively passes through an evaporator 100 and a heater core 200 which are installed in a main path 11. Then, the air is supplied to the inside of an automobile through the respective paths 15, 16 and 17 depending on actions of doors 12, 13 and 14 so that cooling or heating is achieved.
However, the above casing unit of an air conditioning system cannot provide separate cooling/heating of the driver's seat and a passenger's seat or the rear seat.
To solve the problem, the heat exchange unit and the blower unit for the front seat and the rear seat must be independently installed. However, such a solution requires much space for installation of both units and is accompanied by complicated support devices such as a compressor, a cooling device for a condensing unit, and a controller.